U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García on Wednesday defended his decision to quietly drop his bid for a fifth term in Congress and essentially hand the post to his chief of staff, a move that undermines the Southwest Side progressive’s legacy as a reformer and has opened him up to accusations of hypocrisy by borrowing from the old-school Chicago machine playbook he’s long railed against.

Days after pulling the insider political maneuver, García said in an interview with the Tribune that he didn’t make his decision public until it was too late for others to run for office because of a confluence of quick-moving family and health events.

But by the time it became public Monday evening, the only Democratic Party petitions for the 4th Congressional District seat had been filed for him and his chi

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